


A Matter of Tradition

by mousecookie



Series: A Matter of Tradition [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Christmas, Cisco wants an excuse to smooch, Harry has his smarts back and isn't making it easy, M/M, Mistletoe, Post S4, ignoring canon S5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21933682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mousecookie/pseuds/mousecookie
Summary: With Harry back from Earth 2, and everyone at STAR Labs for Christmas, Cisco sets up an array of festive mistletoe traps with absolutely no ulterior motive whatsoever.  Really.
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Earth-2 Harrison "Harry" Wells
Series: A Matter of Tradition [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1592692
Comments: 16
Kudos: 98





	A Matter of Tradition

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BonitaBreezy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BonitaBreezy/gifts).



> For BonitaBreezy, who told me to do it. This is all your fault.

It was Christmas Eve in Central City. A few inches of snow had been promised by the weatherman on the morning news, but it had yet to make an appearance. With the clear night, it was easy to see the city twinkling with strings of lights and warmly-lit windows. The roads were full of people coming and going.

The members of Team Flash were not coming or going, with the exception of Barry, who was out on patrol. They were all gathered in the cortex at S.T.A.R. Labs, which had been decorated so thoroughly it was hard to recognize the place under all the tinsel, lights, and garlands. Two S.T.A.R. Labs blue artificial trees were set up with their silver ornaments, and accompanied by a third, real tree, so tall it threatened to brush the rafters overhead. The crisp green scent of royal pine mingled in the air with the cinnamon and cranberry candles tucked into nooks on desks and shelves. The dulcet tones of Ella Fitzgerald played softly on the speakers. It was downright magical.

“I still don’t get how Barry got a tree that big in here in the first place,” Joe said as he poured a cup of Grandma Esther’s eggnog for Cecile, who held baby Jenna. “Wouldn’t phasing it shake off the all needles?”

“You know, I wonder that every time Barry phases me through something,” Cisco mused from his station at one of the monitors. Unlike the larger screens around the room that displayed crackling log fire animations, Cisco’s monitor held a satellite feed of the city and the readings from various instruments. “It should really concern me more.”

“Come on, Ramon, you’re smarter than that,” Harry groused, nursing a glass of brandy with his feet propped up on the desk next to the satellite feed. “You know as well as I do that the speed of the vibration and the excitation of the molecules into a phased state precludes anything like the effects of manual shaking.”

“Wow, someone’s enjoying having their big ol’ brain back,” Ralph grinned from where he was placing ornaments on the pine tree - nearly fifteen feet in the air, by stretching at the waist. “I’m glad Jesse was able to fix you up on Earth Two. It’s been good to have you back these last few months.”

Harry raised his glass in Ralph’s direction, and it was striking evidence of his increased emotional “balance” that he didn’t make a cutting remark.

“Yeah,” Cisco agreed, looking over at Harry fondly. “There hasn’t been anyone here to mess shit up in my lab. Everything is always right where I leave it, and it’s downright confusing. Now with you camping out on my couch, I get to enjoy the infuriating mess at home, too.”

The corners of Harry’s eyes crinkled. “I missed you too, Ramon.”

They looked at each other until Joe’s arm descended between them, depositing a cup of boozy eggnog by Cisco’s elbow. “Drink responsibly,” Joe said. “I don’t wanna know what drunken breaching does if you get a crisis call and have to peel outta here.”

“It’s not that bad,” Cisco mused, then quickly continued, “Not that I would really know! Obviously! Powers and alcohol, bad mix. Yes.” He obediently took a tiny sip of his mug, eyes wide and innocent. When Joe turned away, he took a larger gulp.

“Hey team,” Barry’s voice echoed in on the speakers. “I’m gonna come in, I think we’re good for a while. All quiet out here.”

“Good! Get your butt over here to the party, Barry!” Joe bellowed in his smooth baritone, smiling.

“That’s right!” Ralph said. “We can keep Central City safe _and_ have a merry Christmas!”

“Has this historically been a problem?” Cecile asked. “I mean, I know last year with DeVoe wasn’t a… great time.”

“Yeeaah,” Cisco drawled. “Pretty much every year since Barry became the Flash, something goes wrong. It’s almost like there’s a special Christmas-themed crisis queued up by the universe. It sucks.” He held the eggnog aloft with one hand while he typed furiously with the other. “But not this year, bitches! This year we are _on point._ ”

Harry clinked his brandy glass to Cisco’s mug, and they both drank.

“Every year?” Cecile said incredulously. “Really?”

Cisco stopped typing and ticked items off on his fingers. “Evil Dr. Wells beating up Barry, Weather Wizard almost killing Barry, _Savitar_ almost killing Barry, DeVoe framing Barry for his murder… you see what I’m getting at?”

“Ooh,” Cecile said. “Yeah, when you put it like that, yeah, it doesn’t sound that great.” 

Behind the group, Barry appeared in a gust of wind and loose papers that seemed to perpetually follow him around. He was dressed in his civilian clothes, rather than the Flash suit, and he happily sidled up to give Iris a hug and a kiss.

“So we have the best of both worlds!” Cisco continued, moving a piece of paper off his keyboard with a grin. “Constant vigilance!" he held a fist aloft, "And… boozy eggnog.”

“And family,” Barry said warmly, giving Iris a sappy grin, and clapping Joe on the shoulder.

“And family,” Cisco agreed, toasting Barry. Soon everyone was toasting, and the party was underway.

Joe, Iris, and Cecile set up potluck dishes on a cleared table. Barry zipped briefly to the lounge, and in a whirlwind of movement, relocated several cushy couches and end tables so they’d all have somewhere nice to sit that wasn’t a desk chair.

Barry was just nudging the last one into place when Cisco jabbed an accusing finger at him and cried, _“STOP!”._ Barry froze, a lanky deer in the headlights.

Cisco’s face transformed with smug glee. “You have fallen into my trap,” he cackled. “Look up, Flash, look up.”

Barry looked up, still looking like he wasn’t sure if he had committed some kind of crime. “Oh!” he brightened. “Mistletoe!”

“You must kiss someone in order to escape,” Cisco intoned dramatically, making Caitlin and Cecile giggle. “Who will help this poor imprisoned man?!”

Iris sauntered over, her high heels clicking. “I will,” she said sweetly, and pecked her husband on the lips.

“Aw, thanks babe,” Barry replied. He kissed her two more times, just because.

“Let this be a warning to you all,” Cisco continued, putting on his gravely dramatic persona again. He rubbed his hands together. “Hidden throughout this facility are _several_ mistletoe traps. And as of now-” he tapped a key, “they are all _armed._ Beware! You could be caught in one at any moment. The halls are decked. Be on your guard.” He slurped noisily from his eggnog cup, eyes narrowed at them all.

Harry looked up at the ceiling suspiciously. Then at the walls. Then scooted back from the desk to peer under it.

“I’ve never felt so intimidated by a seasonal plant before,” Ralph commented, while the others alternately shook their heads and laughed. 

Cecile patted baby Jenna on the back and leveled Cisco with a stern glare. “These traps are baby-safe, right?”

“Safety factor is off the charts,” Cisco assured her. “Not one wee baby hair on her baby head will be ruffled.”

Harry continued his furtive scan of the room. 

The night went merrily on. They took shifts at the monitors, and were glad to report there were no crises that weren’t solvable by local police.

“Say, Harry,” Joe said, topping up both their brandy glasses, “I’m surprised you’re not home with Jesse for Christmas.”

“There wouldn’t be much purpose, as we don’t celebrate it,” Harry pointed out, very reasonably.

Caitlin looked puzzled. “But Jay said - I mean… Zoom…,” her face fell a little, “he said there was Christmas on Earth 2, with some of the same traditions. Like mistletoe.” 

“We have Christmas,” Harry acknowledged. “But it’s kept its religious roots much more strongly than it has here - there’s no secular commercial Christmas like you all seem to have.”

“So are you Jewish?” Ralph asked.

Harry sipped his brandy. “You don’t have to be Jewish to not celebrate Christmas.”

Ralph took on a skeptical expression. “...so, you’re just a holiday scrooge?”

“No, you rubbery ignoramus,” Harry rolled his eyes, though there was no real bite to the words. “We celebrate Midwinter, like logical people. Family and feasting on the shortest and coldest day of the year, when you want to be with the people you love the most. None of your Earth’s exaggerated gift-giving or strange mythology. Just good food and good company.”

“That was December 21st,” Cisco said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Three days ago. Oh! No wonder you visited Jesse that afternoon! But why didn’t you say something? We could have celebrated too!” 

“We did,” Harry pointed out. “You and I got Big Belly Burger when I got back from Earth 2 that evening.” 

Behind him, Joe raised his eyebrows, looking from Harry to Cisco. He leaned and murmured quietly to Cecile, "People he loves the most, huh?" She smiled and swatted his arm. Iris covered a smile with her hand.

Cisco was preoccupied and didn’t notice any of this. He waved a hand. “No, I mean the whole group! We could have honored your culture too, Harry.”

Harry shrugged. “The way you all treat Christmas here seemed close enough.”

 _“Agh!”_ Everyone jumped at the noise that came from the hallway outside the cortex, where Ralph had just left to find the restroom. _“...I’m okay!”_ his voice called a second later. 

The group was then treated to the very disturbing image of Ralph’s head snaking back into the cortex on the end of his extended neck. “Uh, guys? I think I need someone to kiss me. And can you hurry? I gotta go to the little boys’ room.”

“I’ll help,” Cecile said, striding over in her high heels with baby Jenna in her arms. “You needing to pee is making me need to pee.”

Joe made a noise of protest, but Cecile held up a finger without turning around. “With a kiss on the _cheek_. Cisco never specified what kind of kiss it had to be.”

Cisco hummed. “Maybe I should change that…”

“Ah-ah! Nope! You set your terms. Don’t argue with the D.A.” Cecile reached Ralph and pecked him on the cheek.

“Aw, thank you,” he grinned at her, before his expression turned urgent. “Okay, gotta go!” Like a rubber band snapping, his head whipped away around the corner and presumably back to his body.

The group peered into the hallway, curious to see what the trap had been. A waterfall of tinsel had cascaded from the ceiling to form a ring around one particular spot, and in the center was a sprig of mistletoe.

“See? Very safe,” Cisco said. “Voluntary traps only.”

Everyone had a good chuckle, and the party continued. Barry stepped out for a short while to stop a jewelry store heist, then returned just in time to eat with the group. There was Christmas roast, and mashed potatoes, and Grandma Milly’s green bean casserole (Cecile’s contribution), and plenty of side dishes and Grandma Esther’s eggnog. 

When Barry got up to make his third full plate, there was a mechanical clicking noise and a series of cunningly hidden laser pointers all shone their beams around him like a cage. A bough of mistletoe dropped from its hiding place behind one of the ceiling lights.

"Ha-HA! The only thing fast enough to surprise the Flash: light!" Cisco crowed, punching the air victoriously. 

Next to him, Harry leaned over to murmur, "Clever." Cisco grinned at him happily. 

"Oh no," Barry laughed. "Who will free me from my photon prison?"

Joe, who had also gotten up for another helping, strolled over and pulled Barry's head to the side to press a firm kiss to the crown of Barry's head. "Merry Christmas, kiddo," he said, and ruffled Barry's hair.

"You too," Barry smiled warmly back.

Cisco laced his fingers together under his chin and looked very pleased with himself. Harry stole a piece of roast off his plate while he wasn't looking. 

The meal wound down, and people began to move to the lounge sofas. When Joe took a seat at the far end of one, there was a ‘ _sproinggg!’_ noise and a tiny fishing pole with a piece of mistletoe on it whipped up from the back to dangle over Joe's head. 

Joe jumped in surprise, then burst out laughing and wagged a finger at Cisco. "Okay, you're getting sneaky now. I'm not going anywhere anyway, but someone wanna help an old man out? Rules are rules."

Cecile swooped over with baby Jenna. "This little cutie pie wants to help her Papa!"

Joe took baby Jenna and covered her face with kisses until she was giggling with delight.

Harry stood up. "Going to the lab. I'll be right back."

After he disappeared into the hallway, Cisco rolled his chair eagerly over to the monitors. "There's a trap in my lab," he told the others, rubbing his hands together.

"You booby trapped the lab? Only you and Harry even go in there," Ralph commented.

"Just being thorough," Cisco dismissed, eyes glued to the screen.

Sure enough, there was a tinsel trap in the shape of a big lasso that was sprung as soon as Harry entered the door. He wasn't caught by it, however, as he executed a powerslide and skated effortlessly underneath. On the monitor, Harry picked himself up, brushed off his pants, and proceeded to rifle through some cabinets.

"Aw," Cisco said, shoulders slumping. "He missed it."

"Can't catch 'em all," Ralph consoled him.

Harry returned from the lab with a 30-pound block of tungsten. Before sitting on the sofa, he dropped the junk of metal onto the seat and let out a victorious "Ha!" as a second fish pole mistletoe trap was sprung. "Should have given a higher margin to your weight trigger," he told Cisco.

"Yeah," Cisco agreed, looking forlorn. "These were kind of a rush job."

Harry removed the mistletoe from its string and sat comfortably on the couch, looking pleased with himself. He propped one of his feet on the block of tungsten.

Caitlin was the next one to spring a trap by ducking into her med lab for a moment. A cascade of strung-together paper snowflakes fell down around her, with a bunch of mistletoe popping into view at the top. She laughed and gathered the strands around her like a mantle.

"Snow for the snow girl!" Cisco toasted her from across the room.

Ralph began making his way over, but Caitlin's eyes flashed ice-blue, and her hair streaked with white.

"Technically a different person," Frost drawled, and unceremoniously smooched the palm of her own hand. 

Her persona bled back into Caitlin's, and the doctor grinned at everyone. "She's always got my back," she said, shrugging a shoulder.

Cisco narrowed his eyes. "I'll allow it. Just this once."

The chairs had all gotten reorganized for dinner, so Harry pulled up a new one from an unused desk as he took his turn at the crisis-monitoring station. He eyed it suspiciously, then tested it with his tungsten block. Another fish pole trap sprung out of it.

Harry sniffed and plucked the mistletoe from its string and tossed it on the table before sitting in the chair.

Cisco watched all this happen with a mixture of hurt and contrition. Clearly, Harry didn't want to participate. He was possibly even uncomfortable, and it was Cisco's fault.

His distraction was his downfall. Ralph took the mistletoe from the med bay trap and used his powers to extend his arm all the way over three tables to dangle it over Cisco's head.

"Gotcha!"

Cisco looked up. "Curses." His gaze skittered over to Harry, who was closest.

Harry stared back, not moving. Cisco bit his lip, fighting to keep disappointment off his face, and spun to face the rest of the room.

"Okay, who's got me covered?" he asked with a big grin. "The master acknowledges when he is defeated."

Coincidentally, baby Jenna let out a happy gurgle that sounded like a reply.

"Awww, babey Jenna-bear," Cisco cooed, holding out grabby arms and wiggling his fingers. "Uncle Cisco has smooches for you!"

Iris, who was holding her half-sister, laughed and brought her over. Cisco carefully kissed the top of Jenna's head and booped her little button nose. Iris leaned in to give Cisco a kiss on the cheek, too. 

"Merry Christmas," she said. "You should be proud of all this. It's a lot of fun."

"Thanks," Cisco said, a little bashfully.

Iris returned to cuddle with Barry on the couch, baby Jenna nestled between them.

"Mm, now that's a Christmas card," Joe said, and snapped several pictures of them.

This prompted everyone to start taking photos. The culmination was the whole group set up on one of the sofas and standing behind it, with Barry using his speed to take a picture that included himself. He flashed back over in time to grab his cell phone before it fell to the floor, and looked at the photo.

“Oops,” he said, laughing. “We gotta take that one again. This time, Harry, look at the camera.”

Harry, who was positioned behind the sofa, looked up from where he’d been contemplating Cisco sitting in front of him. He pursed his lips and made a show of pasting on a smile.

The crisis monitoring station stayed blissfully quiet. Over the next hour, Barry zipped out a few times on non-urgent tasks, but the Big Bad they feared never showed up.

At last, it was time to start thinking about going home and getting a good night’s sleep.

“I can taxi everyone,” Cisco volunteered from his nearly upside-down sprawl on the sofa.

“You sober enough for that?” Joe laughed. “I don’t wanna end up in the river.”

“I stopped drinking two hours ago,” Cisco said, throwing out jazz hands. “I’m ready to rumble.”

“I made his drinks,” Harry confirmed. “Cranberry juice only.”

“I can just run me and Iris home,” Barry said, but Iris nudged him with her elbow.

“Babe, I love when you carry me places,” she said, “but it’s freezing out there and only one of us has super-healing and cold resistance. Let’s take Cisco up on his _very_ kind offer and skip straight to our nice, warm living room.”

“Okay,” Barry agreed. He looked like he’d give her the moon, if she asked. 

Everyone said good night and merry Christmas. Hugs were exchanged, hands were shook. There were well-wishes and promises of seeing each other again the next day.

“Looks like we broke our bad streak of luck,” Caitlin said as she gave Cisco a hug.

“I hope so,” Cisco replied. “You get home safe now, okay?” He opened a breach to her apartment.

“I’ve got a very safe driver,” she winked at him, and disappeared.

Ralph toddled home next, a little more unsteady on his feet than the rest of them, all smiles and warm hugs. A third portal sent home Joe, Cecile, and baby Jenna. The fourth for Barry and Iris (he swept her off her feet and carried her through the portal, much to her delight).

At last it was just Harry and Cisco, alone in the cortex.

Cisco stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Hey man, I, um.”

Harry glanced over from where he was retrieving his jacket from behind the sofa.

“I just wanted to apologize,” Cisco continued. “If the whole thing with the mistletoe traps made you uncomfortable. It was supposed to be a nice fun thing, just a stupid gimmick to make everyone laugh. But I saw you really, wow, really went out of your way not to be involved, so I just--” he sighed, “--wanted to apologize, like I said. So… sorry.”

Harry stared at him.

Taking his silence for lack of acceptance, Cisco squared his shoulders and went around the sofa to stand in front of Harry directly. He was going to make this right. “So, yeah, I feel really horrible about it, and in the future, please feel free to speak up, I mean, I really want to make sure you feel welcome here, you’re family, and I care about you a lot--”

“Ramon.”

“--and I just wanted to say, again, how sorry I am--”

“ _Ramon._ Look down.”

Cisco looked down. He frowned and tried to shift his legs. “...Did you superglue my shoes to the floor?”

“Yep,” Harry replied smugly. Cisco began to squawk, but Harry talked over him. “Now look _up_ , Ramon.”

Furious, Cisco looked up. High in the rafters of the cortex ceiling, there hung-- 

“Mistletoe. Sonuvabitch.”

“That’s right,” Harry grinned. 

Cisco’s jaw worked. He wet his lips and spoke slowly, “So, this whole time--”

“I was just playing the game,” Harry replied smoothly.

Cisco took a breath, preparing to unleash a litany of righteous outrage, but then Harry was stepping close - no, _stalking_ close, like Cisco was a particularly delicious gazelle on the Serengeti, and the heated words on Cisco's tongue vaporized into nothing. Harry stooped down. Cisco stayed stock-still, breath caught in anticipation.

Harry's lips brushed against Cisco's cheek, barely there, and he murmured, _"I win."_

The air between them was so charged, Cisco might have to fly into a million pieces. “...Harry?” he said, with only a small wobble in his voice, thank-you-very-much.

“Ramon,” the taller man answered easily. He was still so close that Cisco could feel the body heat radiating off of him. Or maybe that was the smugness.

“I think the glue is seeping through my shoes.” It wasn’t what Cisco had intended to say, at all, but sometimes an emergency realization had to take priority.

“Shit,” Harry grimaced, and simultaneously the two of them sprung into motion to solve the problem.

The result was not effective or helpful.

Harry crouched down to untie Cisco’s shoelaces, at the same time as Cisco tried to grab Harry’s arm to steady himself. Cisco learned, then, that it was remarkably difficult to balance oneself when one’s shoes were adhered to the floor. It was only Harry’s quick reflexes and Cisco’s desperation to seize anything his hands could reach that kept them both from landing in a heap.

“The glue!” Cisco said urgently, pressed to Harry’s front in a parody of a swooning Hollywood maiden.

Harry’s tactical mind did some quick calculations. He knelt, still supporting Cisco with one arm, and drew a utility knife from his boot (the presence of which honestly was not surprising, knowing Harry). He promptly and neatly sliced through Cisco’s shoelaces and hefted him right out of his shoes. 

One of Cisco's socks stayed behind like a sad, deflated tongue.

“You killed my shoes!” Cisco gasped from his seat in Harry’s arms.

“I saved your feet,” Harry retorted. He carefully set Cisco down. 

"You endangered my feet in the first place,” Cisco fired back. “What the hell was in that glue?"

"I whipped something up in the lab."

"Great. Wow. Safe."

"Yeah, it was kind of a rush job."

As one, they considered Cisco’s gutted shoes, stuck fast to the Cortex floor.

“You know, it’s not really fair,” Cisco contemplated. “Not only are experimental industrial adhesives _not_ safe-for-work, which was a prerequisite feature for my Flash-fam-friendly traps, thank you, but ALSO the person caught in the trap is really the person who’s supposed to do the kissing, you know, even though like everyone has been ignoring that all night, but you should have known better and so, in totality, you’re completely disregarding all of the _originally_ understood rules of engagement with this outrageous sham--” 

He was building up steam, flinging a chaos of vague accusations Harry’s way like it might transform the situation into one where he’d been able to keep his dignity. And both his socks.

“Just say you want to kiss me, Ramon.” Harry interrupted him, eyebrow raised. 

Cisco sputtered in outrage. “That is _not_ what this is about!”

“Isn’t it?” Harry asked smugly. 

“No! This is about you-- you-- _cheating_!”

“You never specified the rules for traps made by someone other than you.”

“But that doesn’t mean you couldn’t infer with that giant, recently-restored brain of yours-” Cisco started, before cutting himself off and tossing up his hands. “Ugh! Fine. I’ll kiss you. Let’s get this over with.” Cisco stretched up, lips comically puckered, aiming for Harry’s cheek.

Harry, however, did not lean down to help him close the distance. He remained standing upright and out of reach.

“You’re too tall,” Cisco complained, going up on tip-toe and still coming up short.

“Ask me to come down there and I will,” Harry taunted.

Cisco turned red. “You know what? Never mind.” He huffed and turned on his heel. “Let’s just go home.” He strode to the middle of the cortex, absurd with his single remaining sock, and punched a breach into existence. “Well?” he said impatiently, looking over his shoulder at Harry.

Harry didn’t move. He looked over at the monitors, instead. “It’s snowing,” he said, nodding at the weather report. “Want to go up to the roof and take a look?”

“What?” Cisco squinted at him.

“It’s snowing,” Harry repeated, like that explained everything. “We should go look. It’s Christmas.”

Cisco hesitated, then closed the breach and opened a second, much smaller one. His stuck his arm through this new breach, rummaged around, and produced a pair of shoes and a winter jacket. “Okay,” Cisco said as he pulled them on. “You’re being weird, but okay.”

“I’m not being weird,” Harry retorted lazily. “You’re being weird.”

They fell into step and headed up, by an unspoken agreement taking the elevator and stairs instead of a breach. 

“Your breach skills are getting precise,” Harry commented as they walked. “That was right to the entryway closet at your apartment, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Cisco said. “It’s a lifesaver.”

“It’s impressive," Harry replied.

“Aw shucks, Harry, thanks,” Cisco said with a lopsided grin. “I’ll get a big head like yours.”

“Impossible,” Harry returned, lips quirking. “I have the biggest head. It’s undefeatable.”

When the final access door opened, Harry and Cisco were greeted by a rush of bitingly cold air and a flurry of tiny snowflakes. The roof of S.T.A.R. Labs was a winter wonderland - a half inch of fresh downy snow coated everything, set against the multicolored lights of the city. All the noises of the urban landscape were muffled by delicate snowfall.

“Whoa,” Cisco said, the exhale of the word crystalizing into vapor before his mouth.

Harry smiled and followed him out into the cold.

Cisco slowly revolved on the spot, his face turned up to the sky. Snowflakes melted as they landed on his cheeks and speckled his hair. He stuck his tongue out and caught a few, doing a little shuffle-jump to reach a particularly large one.

Behind him, Harry snorted, and ambled over to the waist-high ledge enclosing the roof so that he could look out over the city. Cisco followed him there and leaned on his elbows, taking in the sight.

“Okay, this was a good idea,” Cisco admitted.

“I know,” Harry said. 

They shared a few minutes of companionable silence as they took in the view.

“There’s one more thing, Harry said. He turned to face Cisco, and produced a small object from his pocket: a sprig of mistletoe.

Cisco straightened up at the sight of it, his heart thumping.

“If you kiss me,” Harry said carefully, “I don’t want it to be because of some… obligation of tradition, or a competition. I want it to be because you want to. And because I want to.”

Cisco blinked away a snowflake on his eyelashes. He watched a few land on Harry’s nose and melt. “And do you? Want to?”

Harry twirled the stem idly between his thumb and forefinger. Its green leaves and glossy white berries spun and gleamed in the moonlight. Then he let it drop on the snow-dusted ground. 

His fingers carefully found the line of Cisco’s jaw instead, and there was the heady sensation of warm breath on Cisco’s face before Harry was kissing him. Harry’s nose was cold from the time outside in the chill, but his lips melted readily against Cisco’s, brandy-sweet and soft.

When Harry pulled back, there were twin spots of color in his cheeks. “I want to,” he confirmed, his thumb settling in the dimple on Cisco’s chin. “I enjoyed the game, but I’m not playing anymore.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Oh my god, you’re secretly a romantic,” Cisco said faintly. “The game, the roof, the snow, the _drama--_ ”

“Ramon,” Harry complained, sending a long-suffering look skyward. He frowned and heaved a sigh, producing a cloud of vapor. “You’re supposed to say, _Harry, I want you too_ ,” he said in a ridiculous falsetto imitation of Cisco’s voice.

“That’s not what I sound like,” Cisco protested automatically, but he was grinning, his bright smile standing out in the moonlight. “And… if you want an answer, you’re gonna have to come down here, because as we established before, you’re too freakishly tall.”

Harry’s sour expression faded at that, leaving just him and his sharp blue eyes, his gaze trained on Cisco. He wet his lips and leaned down.

Cisco grabbed the collar of Harry’s stupid black coat and laid one on him. It was a fierce kiss where the first had been tender, and the way it put heat in his veins made Cisco forget that it was freezing cold outside. Harry drank him down in return, inhaling sharply through his nose and curling a hand at Cisco’s elbow.

“I didn’t lose the game, you know,” Cisco said breathlessly, when they parted.

“Oh?” Harry asked, his focus clearly elsewhere as he drew Cisco closer to him and tucked a lock of hair behind his ear.

“Yeah,” Cisco grinned up at him smugly. “Pretty sure this is what winning feels like.” 

Harry broke into a smile, a big, happy one that put dimples in his cheeks, and he bent down to kiss Cisco again.

The snow drifted down around them, on the top of the Labs, over the city, with all its twinkling lights. 

They had eyes only for each other, and paid it no mind.


End file.
